Facebook.... not today

04/21/2012

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I have logged out of facebook.  Now to you that may seem like no big feat. But for me, it's an accomplishment.  You see other than times when I have to restart my computer, or defrag it, I have been logged in about five years now.

I am the only person who uses this laptop for the most part, so there really is no fear of anyone writing something awful under my name.  It just wouldn't happen.   

There is always a tab at the top of my screen that shows FB and the little number next to it that tells me how many "friends" have accessed my page via a comment or "like."   When I see more than one has done so, I go to that tab and see what's up.  Until today.  

I also resigned from all 20 Words with Friends games.  Now there's a time-waster.  When you're playing with 20 different people you can stay busy for hours on end between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.   And I do.  

What a waste.  

I know God has been tugging on my heart to do a new thing and to start oh.... about a week ago.  But I didn't have the time.  I told God I didn't have the time as I was re-shuffling my tiles to make new and complex words worth at least 40 points.  I spent two hours doing that already today.  And it's just noon.

But God won.  I knew He would.  He always does.   He didn't do anything remarkable other than to whisper to  my heart.  He speaks in that still, small voice to me.  And because I know I don't want that voice to stop speaking to me, I need to heed it when He speaks.  

Colossians 3:23  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,   

So... God isn't happy with my ability to make large words out of scrambled letters?  Probably not.  He's not happy with my "likes" of my friends deeds for the day?  Nope.   

I will still check in.  It's a great way to see pictures of my grandson who lives far away and to talk to his mom daily.  Or to see what my kids are up to.  I will still see what requests for prayers are posted by members of our church and my other FB friends.   It is a great way to talk to my sister whom I almost never get to see.  But that's it.  Those things don't take more than a few minutes of my day.

God is calling me to a new venture.  One that doesn't need Facebook.  And so I have bravely logged out.

It's time to move on.

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Please pass the thin mints...

02/22/2012

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There is an uproar lately about the Girl Scouts of America and the allegation that they are an arm of the pro-abortion agenda.   I'm not going to go there.  I'm just using this as a jumping off place.

I used to be a Brownie (just a minute.... have to check the smile in my pocket), a Girl Scout, I used to be a Daisy (kindergarten Girl Scout) leader and all of my girls were Daisies.  Some were Brownies, too.  I was the leader of the Girl Scout Cookie Sale for two troops in Muscatine in the early 90's.  (You get to be the cookie drive coordinator when you miss the meeting.)   I know the Girl Scouts.  

Are they more liberal than they were in the 60's when I was a Girl Scout?  Probably.  

Should we be taking a stance against the Girl Scouts because they are liberal?  Well, let's see what the Bible has to say about it.   You know the Bible has a stance on everything.

And here it is... Matthew 12:30 Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me

That seems pretty cut and dried.  No gray areas.  

This applies to so many areas of our lives.  If I spend too much time on FB quoting people, playing games, creeping on other people's pages and not making a stand for Jesus, am I for Him or against Him?   If I spend time watching TV that I know I wouldn't watch if Jesus was sitting on the sofa with me, then I am probably against Him.If my time is spent doing absolutely anything that isn't for Jesus, then is what I'm doing against Him?   

I'm glad it's not up to me to decide for you.  You will have to ask Him about whether or not the way you live your life is pleasing to Him.  Is it lifting up Jesus in all ways?  In any way?

The debate on whether or not the Girl Scouts are too liberal isn't one we should necessarily get involved in.  This debate will not be solved and this is called a silly argument by Scripture.  

Our job is to be pleasing to God in all we do.   So I need to make yet another list today.  This one has to be about making my time count for Jesus.  Not playing games.  Not wasting time.   But doing things that matter. 

And making a shopping list.  All of this talk about Girl Scouts is making me want a thin mint.  

They are delicious.

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Words with Friends... on Facebook

02/06/2012

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Hello.  My name is Jamie Oehme.  And I am addicted to Words with Friends on Facebook.  

Is there a self-help or recovery group for this?  I have to admit that I will stay up for hours (and hours, and hours) waiting for people to play their tiles making some of the most unusual and longest words I have ever seen.  I keep dictionary.com open on another window so I can check and see what some words mean.  I'm accumulating quite the list of words containing "z," "x," and "q."  It is, after all, the trick that will put you over your opponent.  A well-placed "z' on a triple letter tile near a triple word score can be the make-it-or-break-it move in the game.  I'm not sure if I am proud or ashamed of the fact that between Lexulous, Words with Friends, and Scrabble I have had as many as 47 consecutive games going.  Yikes.  

Talk about a waste of time.

How sad is it that I can spend hours on end coming up with strategies to put me over the top, and the pile of books I've been meaning to read is an ever-growing stack next to the very rocker in which I sit as I contemplate how to manipulate my score.  (I am a master of the run-on sentence.)

Lately I have been feeling a little guilty about the time I spend on this distraction, after all, that's really what it is if I'm honest with myself.   It's something that keeps me from the very thing I am supposed to be about.  I've been completing games and not starting any new ones.  I only go to the site two or three times a day instead of sitting there for hours.  I have stopped looking at absolutely every letter on the board before making my move.  Just play and go.  

Here's where the guilt is coming in... I want Jesus to be proud of me.  I want the time I have left in life, whether years, months or days, to matter for something worthwhile.  Something that matters beyond bragging rights of winning a silly little word game.  Something that lasts.

As a pastor, no... just as a Christian, I am supposed to put the plans God has for me above all which means I am to be seeking Him continually.  Asking Him through prayer what He would have me do rather than wasting time online.  (Matthew 6:33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.)  Seek

That will never come playing against people who are only known by a player number.  Only the things done for Jesus will last.  That's all that matters.  It's all I am supposed to be about in this life.  

Life.  That's an eight-point word.  
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